Tim Kawakami: Cal-Stanford Big Game is a great game

Stanford's Toby Gerhart runs for the game's first touchdown in the first quarter at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif. on Saturday, November 21, 2009. The Stanford Cardinal played the Cal Bears. (Jim Gensheimer/Mercury News)

And, oh yeah, Cal's head-spinning 34-28 victory knocked Stanford out of Rose Bowl contention, revived the Bears' lackluster season and snuffed out the biggest surge of momentum that Stanford has had in almost a decade.

Classic stuff.

At the end, after four or five monumental zigzags of emotion, Cal linebacker Mike Mohamed leaped high to intercept Andrew Luck's final pass near the Bears' end zone with 1:36 left.

That happened just as the Cardinal looked poised to win. Which came after Cal looked poised to win. Which came after Stanford looked poised to win. And so on and so on ...

"There are a lot of should'ves," Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said. "(Luck) should've thrown it higher. We should've given him a better play at the time, a better play on fourth down (earlier)"...

"A lot of should'ves offensively and defensively."

That final interception propelled about 15,000 Cal fans into sudden joy inside Stanford Stadium and sent the Cardinal players into instant shock.

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That, at last, ended it, an edition of this series that might not be the best ever, but still will surely be remembered for a long time.

"That's a big one right there," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said.

It will be remembered for the topsy-turvy: Stanford, which blew out USC last weekend, was supposed to be the bully team this year. All the Cardinal needed was a victory over its diminished rival, and it would remain in the race to Pasadena.

Instead of Stanford creating offensive mayhem, it was Cal that put together six straight drives of 70, 62, 85, 92, 72 and 72 yards, respectively, resulting in a field goal, an interception and then four TDs.

At the end of that onslaught, the Bears led 31-21 early in fourth. Totally unexpected. Memorable.

It will be remembered for all-time performances by Cal running back Shane Vereen (42 carries, 193 yards, three touchdowns) and Stanford's Toby Gerhart (20 carries, 136 yards, four TDs).

It will be remembered as the game in which Luck, a redshirt freshman, finally looked like just a redshirt freshman (10-of-30 for 157 yards) instead of a future All-Pro.

Maybe, most of all, it will be remembered for the debatable late-game strategy of Harbaugh and Tedford.

Their decisions, however, were all too true to their own natures — Harbaugh the madman gambler, Tedford the man comfortable with the known and the cautious.

Harbaugh elected to go for it on fourth-and-eight, deep in his territory, when he had all three timeouts and 3:28 left, down only 31-28.

Luck's pass went incomplete, and Stanford turned it over on downs at the Cardinal 23. But that did not clinch it.

Tedford went conservative, deciding not to go for a game-clinching touchdown and instead setting up for a short field goal that kept Stanford within six points with 2:46 left.

Harbaugh's gambit almost worked. Luck raced the Cardinal to the Cal 13 after a long completion to Gerhart.

And then "... the interception. The end.

This did not seem like a developing masterpiece in the early going, when Stanford jumped to a quick 14-0 lead.

But the game began to pick up epic overtones when Cal stormed into the lead.

Late in the third, Stanford finally snapped back to life and started moving the ball again, as the drama built.

Gerhart cashed it in for his third touchdown, which cut Cal's lead to 24-21.

Then came the fourth quarter, and the zigzags, the almost-clinchers, the errors, the ridiculous, the sublime and the beautiful.

You would not change a thing about it, unless you're a Stanford fan. Even then, you have to appreciate the chaotic, unpredictable perfection of this.